diff --git a/astropy/table/table.py b/astropy/table/table.py
index 0d50cbdeb6..43ebc4360b 100644
--- a/astropy/table/table.py
+++ b/astropy/table/table.py
@@ -1067,18 +1067,10 @@ class Table:
         """Support converting Table to np.array via np.array(table).
 
         Coercion to a different dtype via np.array(table, dtype) is not
-        supported and will raise a ValueError.
-        """
-        if dtype is not None:
-            raise ValueError('Datatype coercion is not allowed')
-
-        # This limitation is because of the following unexpected result that
-        # should have made a table copy while changing the column names.
-        #
-        # >>> d = astropy.table.Table([[1,2],[3,4]])
-        # >>> np.array(d, dtype=[('a', 'i8'), ('b', 'i8')])
-        # array([(0, 0), (0, 0)],
-        #       dtype=[('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<i8')])
+        supported and will raise a ValueError, except for dtype=object.
+        """
+        if dtype is not None and dtype != object:
+            raise ValueError('Datatype coercion is not allowed except for dtype=object')
 
         out = self.as_array()
         return out.data if isinstance(out, np.ma.MaskedArray) else out
